Okay, it's just about twenty-four hours before broadcast... after deleting about four in the last few days, you can keep this one.

Remember however that spoilery info or speculation must be kept to the spoiler thread until 9pm tomorrow. I've edited the post above as it did contain a couple of things that had come from publicity images, rather than from stuff seen in the show (e.g. the opening titles - no point trying to hide the "big explosion" since it can now only logically come from the finale!), so just please try and be considerate to people who want to talk about their excitement, but who have generally avoided promo stuff.

(Indeed, the difficulty of defining this balance is precisely why I kept not wanting there to be a specific episode thread while the spoiler one also existed!)

At any rate. This is the most speculative and anticipated episode of the series. Who's excited?

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What do you mean "the series"? I say "the saga" 8)

Doug knows he can't go around giving episodes titles like "The Beginning" without folks reaching certain conclusions. While there's talk of a possible series XI it's far from certain at this point - so I'm expecting this episode to read as an ideal end for the whole saga, just on the off-chance that the opportunity to continue fails to materialise.

Whether it does or doesn't turn out that way is moot right now - I'm the most excited for a RD episode than I've ever been, which is saying a lot given the 20-odd years between Series VIII and the revival

It'll be an interesting episode to watch. I wasn't aware of the plot until today, but hey ho, it was gonna come out. Knowing this, I decided to read the review in my TV guide for the first time:

'Red Dwarf has always thrived on keeping things the same – four losers, four walls – but, as the tenth series ends, one of the characters looks set to actually develop. The finale opens knowingly on the kind of ground that has proved the show’s undoing in the past. An 11th series seems likely, and welcome'.

(I cut out the spoilers).

I can't work out if that's positive. 'Knowingly on the kind of ground that has proved the show's undoing' - does that mean this is the episode's undoing or does it mean that it works this time round? They gave it 3/5, so, I'm not optimistic but I'll try to keep an open mind.

I can't work out if that's positive. 'Knowingly on the kind of ground that has proved the show's undoing' - does that mean this is the episode's undoing or does it mean that it works this time round? They gave it 3/5, so, I'm not optimistic but I'll try to keep an open mind.

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I normally just enjoy the episodes on their own terms and haven't really indulged in what the collective community finds the low points of the series (mainly due to the internet not being around when the original run aired), so I don't know how accurate I am here. I found that the show struggled the most when it switched to 'Starbug-bound', and again when it returned to Red Dwarf with the resurrected crew.

With the "right script", I'm sure that both situations could have been handled better. From the various things I've read on this forum and others, the "right script" is being used in "The Beginning", so there's no need to be concerned in the slightest. Indeed, we'll probably see just how well these ideas can be done when they're done well.

Every single thing we know happens in the episode, in order of when it was revealed:

* What happened to bridge VIII, BTE and X being revealed
* The sleeping quarters having a wind blowing through it (maybe due to a hull breach and decompression?)
* Rimmer making a "Battleplan Timetable" (a nod to his revision timetables in IWCD) and reading a lot of books in a locker room
* Kryten taking an inventory of the ship's weapons in that same locker room
* A ship blowing up 2 asteroids
* Simulant ships firing on Red Dwarf
* Blue midget escaping Red Dwarf and weaving about among asteroids
* Blue Midget flying away from something as it explodes

SSHR, I've removed the last two items from your list. Again, please keep discussion of this episode - for now - only to things that have been seen in, for example, the opening titles or the broadcast trailers. Anything else, even pictures posted on the main site, is considered "spoiler" territory, and there are people still trying to avoid that.

I know the majority of people who'd come into this thread might assume that there would be spoilers in it, but if you're going to have a separate thread despite my repeated attempts to avoid splitting the conversation, at least give it a reason to exist by making it different discussion!

If you want to discuss/speculate in a spoilery fashion, the old thread is still there, and will stay there until broadcast.

It seems Doug might have packed this episode full of revolutions, kinda seems like there are things that people will take to or not but generally seems to be the episode that's gained the most positive reception before the broadcast. In fact there have been those who are confident that it will be one of the shows best......I hope that's the case because my opinions thus far have been mixed.

I think Doug tweeted once saying 'the guys talk about what happened in Only The Good in episode 6'. I'm actually really intrigued as to how that comes into the story, into the conversation. Whether there'll be flashbacks is another issue. I mention flashbacks because one of my many theories about what the explosion could be is the pencil ship from series 8 deservedly being blown to smithereens and vanquishing that nightmare of a design to hell. The Midget could be a certain someone escaping. Then again, none of my theories have been right to date...

I'm not as excited as I was just before the first episode of series 9, but The Beginning easily has me the most intrigued of any episode in Red Dwarf's history. I really hope this lives up to the hype and proves to be an all-time great to stand alongside Marooned, Gunmen, Back to Reality and Out of Time.

Im excited but also filled with dread
I had a future echo just now, which saw the crews finale a la 'BlackAdder goes Forth' last episode,
a sombre, sobering and fitting show of daring do led by Dave bravely facing the inevitable...
and then.. no more Red Dwarf ever
thats right no XI, no XII , XIII, hell,not even a XIV.
why? whhhhyyy?? whhhhy?????

Were doomed.

nah seriously Im sad because its the last one and its only half hour. why dont they make 24 hour long programs? whyyyy whhyyy
ahem Composure mode activated.
Cant wait.
(but I hope my premonitions have finally stopped, I hate seeing the future - it makes me seem like some sort of gloom bringer)

I'm excited yes. It's the one I went to and I'm sure there are some bits I have forgotten, one of which was shown at the end of Dear Dave / next episode trailer. But just to see how it all came together, the finished article is going to be cool. On the night, I put it up there with the best of Dwarf, I hope it remains there after seeing the finished version.